Growing almonds requires a lot of water, a resource heavily regulated in some areas.
It led researchers at UC Davis to roll up their sleeves and see just how much stress an almond tree can take.
“We had two sites, we have six years in one and three years in another, and found that we could wait a substantial amount of time, more than one month after growers normally start irrigating. We have not seen any bad effects on yields, but we have seen a better tree appearance in the trees. Now, we haven’t actually seen any serious symptoms, but at least delaying irrigation for long times has had no detrimental effect and some positive effects,” said Ken Shackel.
No worries there, but starting irrigation too late can cause issues. Shackel calls it the “bank account effect,” when the trees take up too much water too quickly, and then do not have enough to get through harvest.
Corn and cotton gave the strongest signals this week, while soybean demand remained softer than in the previous report.
Reliance on vegetable imports remains uneven, with domestic production still anchoring several major categories.
StoneX’s Josh Linville discusses USDA’s efforts to boost domestic fertilizer production and his outlook on supply and prices.
Domestic demand policy may play a larger role if export competition continues to limit price recovery.
Tennessee corn and soy farmer Josh Ogle joins us to discuss rapid planting progress in the state, improving moisture conditions, and early crop development challenges in the MidSouth region.
April 30, 2026 05:12 PM
·
Paul Neiffer joined us to explain how USDA’s base acre expansion will be calculated, outline key deadlines for farmers, and discuss how the changes tie into farm program decisions and the broader Farm Bill outlook.
April 30, 2026 04:51 PM
·
